


An Uninvited Visit

by the_ghostwriter96



Series: Enemies to Lovers [4]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: M/M, because I love this trope, drunk vlad, is it a trope?, this time vlad is drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 07:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ghostwriter96/pseuds/the_ghostwriter96
Summary: Danny stops by Vlad's to have a talk, and finds him nearly unconscious at his desk.





	An Uninvited Visit

**Author's Note:**

> I think there will be one more drunk-fic and then I promise I'll stop. They're both troubled and need to relieve their stress ok

Earlier in the day, Dash pushed Danny into his lockers. The blonde jock rarely bothered him or his friends anymore, but every now and then, he’d do something like this. Especially to Danny. He’d ‘accidentally’ bump into them in the hallway, or shove them into the lockers, or a wall, or an open classroom, or knock their books out of their hands. At one point, he knocked Danny’s lunch tray out of his hands. And every time something like this happened, Danny took it. He didn’t fight back, he didn’t raise his voice, he just seethed for a while and then moved on. He was (figuratively) the bigger person, and that was good enough for him. Most of the time.

On this particular day, Danny was tired from not getting much sleep the night before. He had Johnny 13 and his Shadow to thank for that, out causing trouble after a fight with Kitty. Then when he managed to drag himself out of bed the next morning, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and then realized they were out of milk. Fantastic. Then, he got to school and realized that he never did his homework, and there hadn’t been time to do it before class began, so he definitely got a zero. *Then*, at lunch, he tripped on the way to his table and stained his t-shirt with chocolate milk and ketchup.

And then, Dash pushed him into the locker, and he just *snapped*. It was too much; the lack of sleep and bad mood from the day got the better of him. And Dash got the better part of Danny’s fist in his face. Sam and Tucker had grabbed him, had held him back when he went to do it again. When their old teacher (Mr. Lancer, because of course it was *him*) came out and took in the scene- Dash, doubled over with a bloody nose and Danny restrained by his friends- Danny was immediately taken to the principal’s office.

Suspension, they decided. One week. They called his parents, who were furious, and took away his phone and the cord to his computer. It didn’t matter that Dash had started it, it didn’t matter that this was the first time he’d ever lashed out like this, and it didn’t matter that he spent the entire previous night fighting ghosts to protect their asses (not that they knew he did that, but still).

With no way to contact his friends, Danny waited in his room until his parents went to bed, transformed and then took off. He didn’t deserve to be grounded. They didn’t listen to him about what happened, so he wasn’t going to listen to them, either.

For a while, he just flew. It was a peaceful night, no ghosts in sight (except his own reflection in windows as he passed them by). The sky was clear and the moon was bright, flickering through tall buildings as he flew through the town. Sometime later, perched on the edge of a building, Danny watched the slowly dwindling traffic below and wondered what time it was. How long had he been out? Long enough that he was tired- or, well, more tired than what he’d already been. But he wasn’t ready to go home yet. He thought about going to see Sam, or Tucker, but they were probably in the bed by now.

Who would be up, this late? He didn’t have to wonder; Vlad seemed to be a night owl. He was up late twice when Danny went to his home, and once, two weeks prior, when Danny was out watching the stars. Even if he was awake, would Danny’s company be welcome there? If he was up, he was probably be busy with work.

But still. Danny had a long history of annoying the man, and he had no reason to stop yet. Vlad still hadn’t made it clear whether he was agreeing to a truce. Maybe tonight, Danny would find out.

This time, when Danny rang the doorbell, no one came. He waited, and waited, and rang it again, but still, no one came. He (probably) wasn’t asleep; several lights were on in the mansion, and it probably wasn’t *that* late anyway. If he had to guess, he’d say it was around eleven.

He thought about leaving, because he wasn’t invited in. Then, he thought about how Vlad had set up surveillance in their home before, and how he stalked Danny and his family and had absolutely no respect for the privacy of others- and phased through the door. It took him about five minutes of flying room-to-room, poking his head through walls, to find the man slumped over his desk. It was the same room Vlad had brought him to last time he’d come over.

Was he… okay? Danny floated slowly closer, uneasy. The lamp was the only light in the room, casting a dull, yellow glow, softened by the lampshade. Vlad was lying face-down on his arms, his ponytail only half-tied with loose strands of hair spilling out. He let out a silent sigh of relief when he was close enough to see the rise and fall of the man’s back. At least he was breathing.

It was only then that he noticed the bottle of whiskey on the desk, and the half-empty glass in one of Vlad’s hands. The bottle was over halfway gone at this point. For a moment, Danny didn’t know what to do. When Danny had been drunk off his ass, Vlad had helped him to bed. So, hesitantly, he put a hand on Vlad’s shoulder.

“Hey,” He said, softly, almost startled by how loud his voice sounded in the otherwise silent room.

At first, the man didn’t stir. He just laid there, with his face hidden in his arms. Then, before Danny had worked up the nerve to try again, he sat up slowly and blinked glossy, darkened eyes. He looked like a mess, and he looked miserable. Vlad blinked at Danny, like he didn’t recognize him at first, and then sat up a little straighter and rubbed his eyes with his fingers and thumb. When he looked at Danny again, confusion had taken his features.

“What’re you doing here?” He asked, his voice uneven and slightly slurred. “What time is it?”

Danny gave the room a brief glance-over, in search of a clock, but he didn’t see one. “I don’t know. But you should probably go to bed.”

“Daniel…” Vlad sighed, propping his elbows on the table to hold his head in his hands. He didn’t say anything more, though, so Danny took that to mean he wasn’t completely unwelcome.

He found the glass lid sitting beside the bottle, and twisted it on. Setting the bottle aside, Danny tugged gently at Vlad’s arm. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

The older man clumsily swatted his hand away. He reached for his glass, but Danny picked it up and set it out of reach on a shelf. Vlad glared at him, but it didn’t have as much effect when his eyes were watery and his nose was red. “Give that back,”

“Was that bottle new?” Danny asked, and when the man’s scowl deepened he got his answer. “You’re gonna be so hungover in the morning.”

Vlad stood up suddenly, wobbled, but didn’t lose his balance. “What are you doing here?” He asked, a little more clearly this time. “You just keep coming back.”

Danny paused; was that frustration, in his tone? Was he tired of Danny coming around? It would make sense. He wasn’t invited, he just showed up on his own whenever he felt like it. And one of the times he’d come, he’d been wasted. This whole time, he had been thinking that Vlad might want to be friends, but maybe he just wanted Danny to leave him alone. But if that were the case, what was that moment before? The one on the hill?

“No offense, Vlad,” Danny began, avoiding the question because really, what *was* he doing there? He couldn’t answer if he didn’t know. “But you’re kind of a wreck tonight. Can you walk?”

“I am *fine*.” Vlad insisted, but when he went to step around the desk he stumbled, grabbing onto the desk for support and sending a stack of papers into the floor.

Danny rolled his eyes, moving to Vlad’s side. He wrapped one of the man’s arms around his shoulders, supporting his weight as best he could, floating about a foot off the ground. He moved slow, phasing Vlad through the desk and toward the door. Into the hallway, and then down the hall, hoping that the man would tell him when they reached the bedroom. Or any bedroom, there were probably tons. Sure enough, about three doors down, Vlad stopped walking and reached for the doorknob.

Danny felt around on the wall with his free hand until he found the lightswitch, and flipped it on.

The bedroom was huge, and spacious despite the many furnishings. A huge canopy bed, with intricate designs carved into the posts and a nightstand on either side, a large, wooden wardrobe, a vanity mirror with neatly-placed colognes and hairbrushes, and in one corner a loveseat, chair and table. And still, somehow, there was room to easily walk through. The room itself was easily larger than both Danny’s and Jazz’s combined, and (like every other room, it seemed) very Victorian-style.

Danny led Vlad to the bed and sat him down on the edge of it before lowering his own feet to the floor. The older man looked at him, eyes narrowed from the brightness of the room, but there was barely recognition there. It was like he was looking at a stranger. Danny was lost for what to do. This was a grown man, drunk off his ass, and probably wouldn’t appreciate being tucked in- even if that’s what he’d done for Danny. But if he didn’t want to sleep, it wasn’t like he could *make* him sleep.

“You were passed-out at your desk. You should go to sleep.” Danny insisted, crossing his arms.

Vlad just looked at him, and finally, shook his head. “Why are you here?”

“I came to talk, but I guess this is a bad time.” Danny dropped his arms to his sides. And then, uncertain, he asked, “…You okay?”

Vlad breathed a laugh, but it was a bitter one. “I wouldn’t be wasting my evening this way, if I were.” How was he still so eloquent? “I’ve messed up, Daniel.”

“Yeah? Me too.” Danny replied, his mind replaying the sickening *crunch* that sounded in the school hallway, earlier that day, and the blood that gushed from Dash’s nose. “What did you do?”

“Everything. I’ve done it all.” He propped his elbows on his knees, hunching over to hide his head in his hands. “It’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” Danny asked softly, confused, and unsure of how to handle this kind of Vlad.

“I can’t take it back.” The man muttered to himself, barely audible. “The world doesn’t work that way.”

At this point, Danny wasn’t even sure Vlad was talking to him, or if he was just thinking out loud. Either way, this was *not* what the teen had signed up for when he decided to come to Vlad’s house. He wasn’t especially good at comforting people, let alone drunk, villainous ones. He was stuck for things to say, but leaving the man alone right now didn’t seem like a very good option either. So, after a moment’s hesitation, Danny sat down on the edge of the bed beside his nemesis and rest a hand on his shoulder. The older man didn’t even flinch, he just kept muttering in a tired voice.

“There’s no taking it back. There is no changing the past.”

Was this… guilt? Did Vlad feel *guilty* for the things that he’d done? The life that he’d lived? Danny, nervous and tentative, offered, “But you can change the present, and effect the future.”

Vlad was silent for a few long, drawn out seconds, and then he sat up and turned to Danny, curling his fingers into the boy’s t-shirt. “They *left* me there,” He all but snarled, his eyes flashing red and face twisted into an expression of rage. “They *abandoned* me! They turned me into this.”

Danny reached up to the hand on his shirt, gently prying his fingers open. Vlad couldn’t fight like this, he knew. There was no real threat, no real danger. Tonight, he was just a bitter, plastered man. At this point, he *had* to be too drunk to use his ghost powers, and that allowed Danny to feel safer in the presence of his anger.

Vlad, suddenly, deflated. His shoulders slumped and the anger faded from his face. When he spoke again, he just sounded defeated. “You’ve been a hero from the start, Daniel. You wouldn’t understand.” And Danny, realizing that he still held Vlad’s hand in his own, let go and drew his hands back. Vlad’s fell limply in his lap.

Danny opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it and just shook his head. “You don’t know everything about me, Vlad. You really don’t.” But this conversation, this explanation, wasn’t one to have if either party had been drinking. “I wish you were this honest sober.”

“Honesty isn’t in my nature, I’m afraid.” Although he didn’t sound too regretful. “It would be best if you went home, Daniel.”

“I’m not-“

“You’re in *my* home, and I’m telling you to leave.” Even despite the slurred words, his tone was firm and Danny frowned. “You were kind to worry for me.”

What was up with his mood swings? He went from sad, to angry, to sad to almost normal in all of five minutes. “How drunk are you, anyway?”

“Unlike you, I can hold my alcohol; I’ll remember this in the morning.” Damn. That’s what he’d been afraid of.

Imagining another encounter with the man after this… would it be awkward? Danny could handle embarrassing himself- he spent half his school-life doing exactly that- and still recover smoothly. When he showed up at Vlad’s drunk, sure, he was embarrassed afterward (he had *cried* in front of his arch enemy!), but after a few days he brushed it off and got over it. Like he did when his pants fell down at school, or he tripped and fell on his lunch tray, or when dash used to shove him in trashcans. That was normal, he was used to it.

But he’d never seen Vlad like this, and he didn’t know how the man would feel when he woke up the next morning and realized he’d been- well, *vulnerable* in front of Danny. What if the older halfa avoided him because of this? Or worse, what if he was angry that Danny had invaded his privacy like this? What had he been thinking?

He hadn’t been thinking, he realized. He’d acted mostly on impulse, from coming here to going inside even after no one answered the door.

“Sorry,” He offered, weakly. An apology for showing up for the third time, unannounced, for coming in without being invited and for seeing Vlad in a state that he was sure the man wouldn’t appreciate, come morning.

“Don’t linger on it.” Vlad waved a dismissive hand, and then reached back, pulling the tie in his hair. His hair fell messily around his shoulders, but he wasn’t looking at Danny anymore. He was bending down, taking his shoes off.

Danny, transformed, and without another word, phased through a curtained window and into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment! Let me know how you like it and if you want me to write more. Thank you <3


End file.
